Heritage Advent Calendars

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The Christmas tree is the focal point of most Christian holiday decorations in the home. It is usually decorated with a lot of love, and care, and varies in shape and size. Maybe you have a huge one, or maybe you have a little one, but this Christmas tradition is definitely one to cherish.

When my husband and I first got married, we had a sad little excuse for a christmas tree. After all, we did not have a lot of money, and we definitely did not have a lot of Christmas decorations. But, we were proud of that little tree. We knew that over time, our decorations would grow, and so would our family, and we were pretty sure that our tree would grow as well from year to year. So, we decided that we wanted to start a tradition of making sure that we took a photo of our tree every year we were married. So far, we have kept that tradition.

An idea that we had was to create an advent calendar out of 25 years of Christmas tree photos. This is one way that we can preserve our family heritage over the years. So far, we have 9 tree photographs, and I’m sure the next few years will go by quickly. Before we know it, we will most likely be looking back at the first 25 years of marriage and treasure those pictures we took of all of our trees.

However, you could do this with any Christmas tradition you have in your family. If you want to take a family photograph on Christmas day every year and watch how your family grows and changes, this would be a great idea too. What about a night before Christmas photo every year? Having your kids in their pajamas in front of the Christmas tree is definitely a photograph to treasure.

Then, when you have enough photos accumulated, make an advent calendar where you can open up a new picture every day of the month and reflect on the Christmases of the past in your family. If you have already missed a few years, don’t worry. You can start this tradition at any time!

Another idea is to remember your relatives during the month of December. Think of taking 25 heritage photos that you have and creating an advent calendar out of those. Every day could be about having your children guess who the relative is, and sharing a little story about that relative. The holidays are about family after all.

Advent calendars are so much fun for children, but they can be fun for you too. Think about making your own to carry on holiday traditions, and preserve your family heritage!

Meredith Ethington is the author of this blog. To learn more about Meredith, and her history with Scrapbooking and Genealogy, go here.